


Between Flocks

by GuardianLioness



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Character Study, College era, Gen, One Shot, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-06-04
Packaged: 2019-05-18 06:34:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14847612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuardianLioness/pseuds/GuardianLioness
Summary: The transition to college life isn't easy, and Sugawara finds himself wondering where he fits.





	Between Flocks

**Author's Note:**

> Written last year for a zine that didn't end up making, this is my first attempt at the characters of the Haikyuu!! verse, and it's about time to post . Hope you enjoy!

 

The words were right, pulling from gasping breaths and voices drawn taut in concentration. The rhythm of the court was right, the squeak of shoes, the hollow echo of the ball, and the chorus of shouts all blending together in a familiar song. His focus was right, eyes scanning in measured arcs, ears straining for his teammates’ commands.

 

Everything aligned. A perfect storm raged on the court, and Sugawara found himself in the center of the fray. His setter’s intuition, reawakening after his months on the bench, soaked it all in. Position, balance, the ball, the blockers, a torrent of information streamed into his mind, giving him what they needed most: a solid plan.

 

This was volleyball. Tense, fast, and real. His pulse thumped in his ears, his fingers reaching for the ball.

 

Exhilarating. There was no other word for it. It was exhilarating — or it should have been. Even as he stretched to his fullest height, straining to reach a pass, he felt wrong.

 

Maybe it was the loose sleeves of new workout clothes sliding against his arms, the soft texture so different from the sleek Karasuno uniforms. Maybe it was the unfamiliar opponents towering over him on the other side of the net. Maybe it was the lonely apartment and the pile of textbooks waiting for his return, but Sugawara didn’t think so. 

 

Even with a full set of teammates, the court felt empty. Every shot had to be measured in excruciating detail, ready for a spiker whose speed and motion he didn’t know. His fingers moved automatically in signals that no one else would recognize. Standing with so many people, Sugawara found himself alone.

 

Something deep in his mind was waiting, waiting for Hinata to bolt past in a blur of orange, waiting to feel Tsukishima’s cold, constant presence, waiting to see Daichi’s imposing shadow stretch halfway across the court.

 

Sugawara loved volleyball. He always would. But somewhere along the way, it had become synonymous with Nishinoya’s madcap laughter, Yachi’s earnest smile, and Shimizu’s quiet assistance. His passion for the game was tied together with the memories of his teammates. 

 

It wasn’t the same without them.

 

As his fingers brushed the soft grain of the ball, he faltered. It tipped from his hands, hitting the court floor with a dull thud.

 

“Don’t mind!” Voices on both sides of the court reassured him, and he let some of the tension leave his shoulders. As much as he wanted to win, it was still only a practice game for his university’s club.

 

“This is a good time for a break” the club’s president interrupted the flow of the game. “Everyone take five.”

 

They shuffled away from the court, and as Sugawara sat down on the sidelines and unscrewed the top of his water bottle, he wondered how long the feeling would last. The feeling that something was missing, something he couldn’t get back.

 

—

 

Sugawara balanced the notebook on his knee, tapping his pen against the textbook open on the desk next to him. Popping audio thrummed in the background, voices overlapping one another in their eagerness to speak. Engrossed in the assigned reading, he didn’t catch what they were saying, but he was keenly aware that the emptiness of the apartment didn’t weigh on him so strongly.

 

His pen darted across the page, jotting down another line of information. Exams weren’t for another two months, but the unpredictability of living life on his own made the head-start worth it. “Suga!” The voice made him jump, skewing the easy kanji lines and dragging a trail of ink across the margin. 

 

“Yeah?” He shifted, turning to look at the open laptop monitor. Nishinoya leaned into the webcam on the other side of the screen, his face filling the entire window, eyes narrowed in determination.

 

“You agree with me, right? Shouyou’s totally wrong!”

 

“Am not!” Hinata snapped as Nishinoya backed away, poking his head into the video call.

 

“Are too, you idiot,” Kageyama said from somewhere behind them.

 

“We’re supposed to be studying, remember?” Familiar but metallic, Yamaguchi’s nervous laugh crackled through the speakers. “That’s why we called Suga-senpai. So we could work together like we used to, not so we could take up his time.” 

 

Despite himself, Sugawara grinned. “I’m pretty sure everyone took up my time when we were studying in person, Yamaguchi. But that’s what teammates are for, right?” He started to say more, but then remembered he didn’t know what Noya and Hinata were bickering about in the first place. “But you’re right, let me get to a stopping place before we have to solve any arguments.”

 

“Right, Suga-senpai! Finish and then you can tell Noya-senpai how he’s completely wrong.” Hinata backed away from the camera. All of Sugawara’s underclassmen were clustered in a loose circle on the floor in Yamaguchi’s bedroom, textbooks and handouts spread out in front of them. 

 

Hinata slid back into place between Kageyama and Yamaguchi before looking up at the camera again. “Oh! And you should tell us about the volleyball club at your university! I want to know how good your teammates are!”

 

Sugawara chuckled and turned back to the reading. It wasn’t long before friendly arguments blared from the speakers once again, driving back the shadowy unease that fed on the silence of the apartment. 

 

Hinata was right, he thought, underlining a passage in his book. The college club was his team now, but the chatter on the video feed made it clear that he didn’t have to leave Karasuno behind. They shared the court, even if it was only for a year. Their rhythm, their feeling of  _ right  _ was still his. 

  
Sugawara let out a quiet hum of contentment. One day, maybe his new teammates would feel this right. Until then, he had people to fill the gaps. He was flying alone now, yes, but he was still part of their flock. 

 

Life moved on, and Sugawara moved forward, but he was never truly on his own. He would always have people who would welcome his return. He would always be one of them, a scrappy, young crow hungry for the next victory.

  
  



End file.
